The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-12-22
THE RAGE FOR TALISMANS.
The Fayorite Fetch of Mrs. Langtry, Sarah
Bernhardt and Others.

Bernhard and Others.
1t is the fashion now to have fetch
something to love, to child, to beat,
to swear by, to dream on, to talk to,
to reason with and to worship as moth
ing mortal or material is worshipped.
1t may be button without a shank,
picked up from the marble slab in
Turkish bath; a bangle found in a
street car with an indecipherable
monogram on one side and date on
the other, in which case there will be
fatality in the letters and luck in the
numbers, combine them as one may.
Such things as daggers, old coins,
madstones, oyster pearls, ocean peb-
bles, nuggets, petrifed stones, opals,
amethysts and comedians are dearly
priced, and in jewels old designs, such
as wings, claws, spurs, foils, cubes,
and the like, obtained or purchased
under strange circumstances.
There is no fetch like luck-penny.
Let sad-eyed newsboy sell you
paper on "a dismal night when no
stars give light" when the heavens are
weeping, the winds wailing and the
gas lamps flicker. and if he crosses
your palm with an old coin make it
your fetch, and straightway it be-
comes possessed with the magic of
Desdemona's handkerchief. Find a
dime and let left-handed, blue-eyed
smith engrave snake in the act of
swallowin itself, tail first, and you
have the Talmudic emblem as old as
superstition itself. A fetch to be
magical must have been cOnsecrated
by pathos, valor, generosity or some
gentler sentiment The fancy comes
to society indirectly from the stage,
for actors, next to negroes and mari
ners, are of all professions the most
superstitious.
Mrs. Langtry wears ON one of her
long, tapering fingers a turquoise as
big and beautiful as the gem Shylock
mourned for. The ring and she are
inseparable. There is never glove
so snug that it cannot be coaxed over
the solitaire, and on the stage, when
it might be considered poor taste to
wear it in view, the stone is turned
towards the palm or dropped in the
bosom of her bodice. Both the gift
and wish were bestowed by royalty.
Nine. Cavalazzi has a small ivory
crucifix, the gift of her dying mother,
who bade her cherish it with reverence
and burn taper before it whenever
the way seemed dark and dreary.
In her stateroom on the ocean mad
winds and wild waves have no
terror for her while burns the sacred
taper at the foot of the ivory
cross, and in the theatre no earthly
power could induce her to 90 before
the footlights until her devotions had
been made. Her husband, Charles
Mapleson, has ceased to laugh at her,
and almost believes that the light of
the cross and the light of the tiny dip
light her pretty feet through the in
tricacies of the dance.
Sarah Bernhardt has an antique
girdle made Of medallions, on which
are the signs of zodiac in superb chas-
ing. The zone was gift from Napo-
leon, who received it from Abdallah
Bev, of Egypt. She is never without
it; sometimes it is worn about her
dress and sometimes around her neck
1t holds the gathers of house and
stage dresses and always encircles her
night-robe. Aside from the worship
of the girdle, she loves knife, "be-
cause it cuts and is true-cruelly
true" In all great undertakings she
before her eyes as reminder that
failure may be mended but never made
perfect.
Mary Anderson loves a pearl be-
cause it is pure and cold. Campanini
pins his faith to a prune, and there is
no time in the year when the stone or
fruit of the black, sticky confection
may not be found in his vest pocket.
Ellen Terry's fetch is bottle with
patent stopper-which in never empty,
because the cork remains. Nine
Patti likes the ivy because it clings and
is poisonous, and the leaf is favorite
design with her.
Digby Bell has a horror of open
drawers or open doors, and no matter
where he is. the temptation to "shut
up" is irresistible. On his way to the
stage he positively will not pass an
open door.
There is little lady in Chicago,
the wife of a popular singer, who is
never without her dagger. The blade
is as true bit of steel as ever was
tempered, and the weapon is worn with
every style of costume. One night it
came near trailing blood. Her hus-
band was on the stage, singing and
playing the part of lover to beauti-
ful soprano. There was little more
fervor in the work than the wife liked,
and, leaving her box, she ran around
on the stage and waited for the couple
in the o. p. entrance. Fortunately the
husband was the first to meet the jeal-
Gus little wretch, but the third act was
more than trlfie late Chicago Mail.